Friday, 27 September 2013

Solar Tunnel To Power 4,000 Trains Annually

Solar Tunnel To Power 4,000 Trains Annually

Europe’s first “solar tunnel” is providing power to high-speed trains running between Paris and Amsterdam.
The 3.6-kilometer (2.2-mile) tunnel, built to protect trains from
falling trees as they pass through an ancient forest near Antwerp, is
covered with solar cells and could generate 3.3 MWh of electricity
annually. Enfinity, the company behind the project, says that’s
equivalent to the average annual consumption of nearly 1,000 homes. It
also claims that the tunnel will decrease CO2 emissions by 2,400 tons
per year.
“For train operators, it is the perfect way to cut their carbon
footprints because you can use spaces that have no other economic value
and the projects can be delivered within a year because they don’t
attract the protests that wind power does,” Bart Van Renterghem, the UK
head of Enfinity, told the Guardian.

The
$22.9 million project uses 16,000 solar panels covering 50,000 square
meters (roughly 538,000 square feet), which is about the size of eight
football pitches. They will provide enough electricity to power 4,000
trains a year. The first of those trains left Antwerp on Monday, filled
with commuters and students.
The trains tap into the solar energy as they pass through the tunnel
at 186 mph. The electricity also provides power for lighting, signals
and other infrastructure.
“By using electricity generated on-site, we eliminate energy losses
and transport costs,” Enfinity chief executive Steven De Tollenaere, told AFP.
Enfinity has said there had been plans afoot to introduce similar
solar infrastructure in the UK but recent cuts to financial incentives
would make the projects “unviable.”
“Apparently the UK Government is more concerned about the Treasury
than the mid and long-term carbon reduction objectives that we have,”
van Renerghem said. “Personally, I think it is short-sighted.”

Energy minister Greg Barker MP said in response: “We want to create a
long-term platform for growth. Now that does mean that, in the short
term, large-scale schemes aren’t going to get the sort of funding that
we see in Belgium currently. There are a lot of exciting things in solar
but we have got to think it through so that we get good value for the
bill-payers as well as a great deal for the solar pioneers.”